ferret

For years the Philadelphia Zoo struggled to find a simple, palatable diet for the domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) in the Philadelphia Zoo collection. The ferrets are used in the zoos education program and housed at the Children’s Zoo. Many of the animal caretakers at the Children’s Zoo are volunteers; thus, the animals are cared for by a number of...

Previous work at the Metro Toronto Zoo (Oyarzun et al., 1995) has found that the nutrient concentration in the Metro Toronto Zoo (MTZ) diet fed to the SSP Black-footed ferrets {BFF, Mustela nigripes) met or greatly exceeded the daily recommendations established for mink (NRC, 1982) as well as nutrient levels reported in the BFF natural diet (Dierenfeld & McGuire, 1989)....

Experimental data or performance record of black-footed ferret (BFF) in captivity is needed to evaluate nutrient levels or adequacy of feeding programs carried out with this endangered species. Diets fed to BFF in three places were compared: Metropolitan Toronto Zoo (MTZ), Sybille Wildlife Research Center (SWRC) and at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (OHDZ). Some reference will be made to prairie...